ticket-of-leave men were mustered for a special inspection by the chief superintendent and occasionally by the Governor. In the other districts "all the male convicts, whether assigned to settlers or on ticket-of-leave … (with the exception of stockmen and such other persons as the magistrates under special circumstances may see fit to exempt), are to assemble and be mustered by the district constable every Sunday morning at ten o'clock in such central part of the district as shall be pointed out by the magistrate; and to proceed from thence under the direction of the constable to the nearest church or place of divine service, in case there shall be one within three miles. … On these occasions it will be expected that the assigned servants and persons on tickets-of-leave shall not only be punctual … but also clean and decent … and any of them who shall attend either unshaved or intoxicated, or absent themselves except in cases of sickness or other unavoidable cause, are to be reported by the constable to the magistrate of the district, who is to reprimand for the first offence and punish every subsequent one by placing the offender in the stocks for one hour."[1]
The masters of assigned servants were enjoined to assist in carrying out this order on pain of having their men withdrawn. This threat was never enforced, though it was well known that some masters did their best to hinder their men from attendance. The muster rolls were to be kept in a uniform manner in all districts, and to be submitted every Monday to each resident magistrate that he might punish defaulters and those who had not conducted themselves with propriety. The magistrates were asked to attend the muster occasionally in person to assure themselves that the proceedings were carried out in an orderly manner.
How far the Sunday Muster was successful it is hard to say. If it was held near a licensed (or unlicensed) house, drinking and intoxication were the inevitable result. When it brought the convicts into a town as it did at Parramatta, it was an unmixed evil. Marsden, the senior chaplain, and Hannibal Macarthur, the two chief magistrates at Parramatta, opposed it strongly and refused to enforce the order; and Bayly, Townson
- ↑ G.G.O. See note on stocks above.
